Tax and Europe? Eh? What now? How exactly, Mr Howard? Labour have (stupidly and anti-democratically) promised to hold referenda on the Euro and the proposed European constitution, allowing people to have their ill-informed say. Tax (and inflation) has been lower over the last few years than it was under the Tories; in real terms, most people are better off. Has Michael Howard been living on a different planet for the last few years?

Unless I’m very much mistaken, what has damaged people’s faith in politics is that after a million people marched through London in the biggest protest in history, the government still went ahead and illegally invaded another sovereign nation based on suspect intelligence.

What has damaged people’s faith in politics is the fact that the Prime Minister mislead parliament with the full complicity of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition – aka the Conservative Party – and has yet to apologise or face disciplinary proceedings.

What has damaged people’s faith in politics is the knowledge that if George W Bush gets back in as President of the USA, it doesn’t matter for shit who the next Prime Minister of this country is, as both the two main parties will support him all the way.

I guess the major problem with the Tories is their complete inability to respond to the changes that have taken place over the last decade or so. The fact that Howard’s opening attack was devoted to Neil Kinnock – a man who hasn’t been leader of the Labour Party for TWELVE YEARS – and a Labour policy which hasn’t been on the agenda for fifteen years, stands as a fairly decent example of just how fucked up the Tories are these days.

Shake off the Thatcher legacy already – that why everyone still hates you.